


when the sun sets the water on fire (i will sing to you)

by asahijpeg



Series: snktober month 2020 [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Armin Arlert Finds the Ocean, Canon Compliant, Dead Marco Bott, Gen, M/M, Minor Armin Arlert/Jean Kirstein, armin contemplating life, day two: beach, snktober, snktober 2020, the ocean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:20:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26777263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asahijpeg/pseuds/asahijpeg
Summary: "is the ocean everything you expected it to be?"in which armin sits on the beach with his friends.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Jean Kirstein
Series: snktober month 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945990
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19
Collections: SNKTOBER Month 2020





	when the sun sets the water on fire (i will sing to you)

rusty orange sunlight glows across the water, setting the blue color ablaze in a wash of liquid fire. there’s something gorgeous about this flaming water, all orange and red and yellow hues that blend together to showcase the destructive beauty of the world beyond the walls. 

his eyes trained on the horizon stretched out before him, when armin blinks, he can see the imprint of the blinding white of the sun on the backs of his eyelids, watches it dance across his vision when he looks away from the source of light. there’s a dying heat about the world, temperature dropping slowly, slowly until it’s nothing more than a gently nipping chill, the water lapping at his toes matching the cool of the air.

he registers when someone comes to rest beside him; jean is sitting to the right of him, inconspicuously close. when they look at each other, clear blue irises locking with golden brown ones, jean gives him the softest smile he’s ever seen; it’s fleeting, barely there, but he sees it and he can’t help but return it.

the pair lean back on their palms on the sand, hands so close that their fingers brush against each other, a minuscule show of affection that goes unnoticed by everyone except for them. sitting in silence, they look back out across the water, fingers just barely linked, the bright orange of the ocean setting their skin a dark bronze.

“i wish marco could have seen this,” jean says some time later, not pulling his gaze from the horizon extended before them. his voice is soft, sad, but not tearful, not rough with silent sobs;  _ typical jean _ , armin thinks.

armin hums in response, tilting his head to the side just a tad bit. “yeah, me too. he would have loved it.”

the comfortable silence falls over them again, much like a warm blanket left in the sun to dry, the quiet only broken by the splashing of the waves on the shore. eyes still trained on the horizon extended out in front of them, armin takes in the warmth of jean’s hands against his own, helping to ground him in the moment.

it’s surreal, getting to experience the dream he’s had since childhood. it had always seemed like a pipe dream, one that would never come true because escaping the fifty meter walls of his home had always been so unlikely; however, armin guessed, it had also been unlikely that a sixty meter titan would ever appear and render shiganshina obliterated for five years, which just about made anything else possible. still, though, sitting on the beach and seeing the ocean after looking to it (and the promise he made with eren) for motivation to help continue to drive him and his friends towards victory… he can’t help but feel a little sad, a cold emptiness that pervades his chest despite the warmth that still radiates off the sun.

“hey, you downers!” sasha’s peppy voice breaks armin out of his reverie as she glances her foot across the water and sends a spray of salt in his direction. “cheer up! look a little happier! we made it to the ocean!”

the girl’s demeanor doesn’t fail to infect armin and he finds a smile once again gracing his features, a replica of the one that had been on his face when they’d first stepped foot into the tide. he shakes his head and pushes himself up to stand, turning around and looking down at jean.

“you, too, kirstein,” he says, offering a hand to his friend. “get up.”

the ash-brown boy blinks up at the blond for a moment like he’s debating on getting up or not, but after a second, he lets out a breath that passes as a laugh and takes his friend’s hand, using it as leverage to stand up. “alright, alright.”

still hand in hand, the pair allow themselves to be led by sasha to where everyone else has gathered; everyone else is sitting, relaxing in the sand, whereas levi has elected to continue standing, no doubt wary of sand that would end up sticking to his skin and getting into his clothes. armin sits next to mikasa and lets jean take the empty spot on the other side of him, their hands falling away from each other, but sitting shoulder to shoulder.

“so, armin…” mikasa starts after he’s settled himself in the sand next to her. “is the ocean everything you expected it to be?”

he blinks against the sun that has now almost fully disappeared beneath the horizon line, leaving the moon to take its place and douse the water in a silver gild rather than a fire. “maybe even more than.”

she smiles that tiny little smile of hers and nods. “good.”

a silence falls over the team, this one less comforting than the one armin shared with jean earlier, more stifling and apprehensive than anything else. something bad is brewing, lurking just over the horizon, and he knows because he can feel it in his bones. this is a last moment of reprieve, of pure happiness before they start launching themselves into the next deadly mission, whatever that plan may be. he wants to stop time, to live right here in this small segment of time forever, but the rational part of him knows that he can’t, that it would be an insult to all the sacrifices everyone has made, all the lives lost to get them to this point.

_ marco _ … he thinks. to have become the same titan who killed one of his friends, one of the nicest people he’d ever met… it feels good to get revenge for the boy who’d wanted nothing more than to stay safe and protect others, even if maybe he’d end up finding that the military police isn’t what he thought of it.  _ we got here because of you. i hope you can see us. _

as he looks out across the water, eyes trained on the horizon line, leaning against jean, armin smiles to himself. in the back of his mind, he can almost hear marco’s response.

_ it’s beautiful. _

**Author's Note:**

> title from "send me a song" by celtic woman (2005)
> 
> oh look at that... another armin beach fic. i had this one outlined, but didn't really know where i wanted to go with it, so it's kind of a precursor to "just one glimpse of relief." i just really live for armin and the ocean okay?? a perfect pairing. it's what he deserves.


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